My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes
into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if
you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here
in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or,
“Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and
become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God
chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored
the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag
you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by
THE UGLINESS OF FAVORITISM
Under severe persecution, how may these believers in the church have thought?
James had anticipated for them to think that "If we treat the rich and
powerful people well. they will treat us well.” This is evidence of the lack of
faith that God is in perfect control as well. Is not the Lord fully capable of providing
all that we need at all times and forever? His glory is ours for eternity,
isn’t it? If you and I are trusting the Lord to meet all of our needs, should
we show favoritism to anyone expecting that they will provide for us and avoid
Favoritism is ugly. James painted a scenario that ‘suppose a man comes into your meeting
wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also
comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and
say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there'
or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,'[v.3-4, NIV] This is making distinctions and
making oneself as an evil judge.
In a paid concert gathering, we are not surprised when the rich and dignitaries
are seated and treated with great honor while the poor are sidelined, are we?
As it was the culture then, it hasn’t changed that much today among the
non-believers. However, this should not happen in church. Christians gathering
are not to discriminate against poor people in favor of rich people. Doing
politics should neither be practiced nor tolerated in our churches.
In such a case they didn't really believe that Christians who are poor in this
life will be equal heirs of the riches of glory forever. Instead, they made
themselves the judges, determining who was worthy of honor and attention and
not. Such discrimination has revealed their fleshly way of thinking.
Favoritism doesn’t make sense. Why? The poor are rich in faith so they are heirs of God’s kingdom.
The rich, however, oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court, blaspheme
the honorable name by which they were called. Our God is no respecter of
persons. Jesus mingled with publicans and sinners because he loved them. Why
should Christians be different?
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